The Upstairs, Downstairs star worked with Cage on the film Season Of The Witch, and while filming on location in Bath, where she knew he had a home, decided to try and track him down.

Claire said: “I did walk around the crescent where he lives going, ‘Nic, Niiiiiic!’ in the hope he would open his door.”

She added: “He’s a lovely man. When I first met, him he strode across the car park and went, ‘I’m so glad you’re doing this movie’. I thought, ‘Oh my God, are you mad?’ It was such a bizarre experience. I couldn’t think of what to say, because Nicolas Cage saying he’s glad that I’m doing the film that he’s doing was just a bit odd.”

In the TV adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel The Night Watch, the 27-year-old actress plays Helen, who is caught in a love triangle with two women played by Anna Maxwell Martin and Anna Wilson-Jones.

Claire confessed she found it easier filming love scenes with women than she does with men.

She said:”Anna [Wilson-Jones] and I had a scene in the bath, and the studio was so cold we actually stayed in the bath because it was too cold to come out!

“If I’d have been in a bath with a man I would have been out of it at every take but we were just sat there laughing, saying, ‘All right love?’ and having cups of tea.”

:: The Night Watch is on BBC Two on Tuesday, July 12

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Please DO NOT click to view the images if you haven’t seen the film yet, because they’re obviously beyond spoilerish! Proceed at your own risk!

Many thanks to my friend Annie.

GALLERY LINK:
- Season of the Witch (2011): Blu-ray Screencaptures

It’s been a while since ‘Season of the Witch‘ celebrated its premiere in New York but we hadn’t posted this lovely interview with Claire Foy on the red carpet before – so enjoy!

GALLERY LINK:
-Interviews/News Segments: Movie Files | Season of the Witch | New York Premiere

Season of the Witch was released theatrically by Relativity Media and produced by Atlas Entertainment.

Season of the Witch was released January 7th, 2011 and stars Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen, Claire Foy, Robert Sheehan, Christopher Lee. The film is directed by Dominic Sena.

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I’ve also been adding lots of foreign posters for Season of the Witch and high quality photos of our most recent events. Take a look at our last uploads.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Upstairs Downstairs: Production Stills
- Upstairs Downstairs: Promotion

She plays Erin, an 18-year-old visiting Israel for the first time. She’s following in the footsteps of her grandfather Len, a soldier in the British army in Palestine during the Mandate period who kept a diary of his turbulent time there.

It’s a powerful tale of love, war and betrayal, telling the stories of both Erin and Len – two young people caught up in the same struggle more than 60 years apart.

Here, Foy reveals her passion for the project, and explains why she’d like to burn every costume she’s ever worn.

What was it that drew you to The Promise?
I remember the very first audition very clearly. I got sent 25 scenes, and was asked to prepare all of them, which is what Peter does, God love him. It was so much work.

I remember reading a scene, and I had no idea what it was about. But then when I got the finished script, I couldn’t stop reading it. It was just the most amazing story.

Peter is just so talented, it’s unbelievable. Anyone who watches it will be blown away by the story. He somehow makes a political piece that’s so emotionally driven by the characters. There’s no agenda in it. It’s just amazing, it’s my favourite job ever, and I think it always will be.

That’s quite a statement.
It’s the whole reason I want to act. Obviously I couldn’t do a job like this every week – it’s such undertaking and it requires a lot. But I loved it; it’s about something bigger than just the drama. And I loved the character so much. There was so much in her.

She’s not exactly a sympathetic character, is she?
No, she’s not very nice at all. [Laughs] She’s quite unforgiving and a bit bolshy, a bit sarky, and a bit of a cow, really. But I think it works because she’s a real person. And I felt very strongly that when I was 18 I was a lot like Erin. I was quite mouthy, and sticking up for things I didn’t really believe in because I didn’t know anything about the world. She’s a difficult character to love, but she’s real.

Erin suffers from epilepsy as well. Did you do any specific research into that subject?
Yes. I had to. I had to have a few fits on film, so I had to be quite technically specific about them, because some of the people watching will be epileptic, and there’s a duty to get it right.

We had some people from the Epilepsy Foundation come in and talk to us and give is some information about it. And there are things you can watch on YouTube about it as well. I watched some fits, but it felt a bit weird to be watching them. It seems like such a personal thing. And I watched quite a few documentaries with people talking about what it felt like to have epilepsy, and how it affects your life. I think she’s so aggressive all the time because she doesn’t want people to think that she’s got a disorder or needs help. She doesn’t want to be patronised at all.

Did you do any other research into the situation in Israel?
Yes. I really shouldn’t have done, because Erin was a complete innocent about the whole thing and really naïve about it, but once I’d read the script I had to keep reading, because it opened a completely new world to me.

I got the job months and months before we started shooting, and I actually became a member of the British Library – which is very nice – and I went and found a book about a man who had written a diary of when he was in Palestine at the same time that the character of Len was there. So it helped me no end.

The series was filmed in Israel. Had you been there before?
No, never. And I probably never would have been but for this. For a country that’s so aware of its politics it was brilliant they gave us permission, because we couldn’t have done it anywhere else.

What did you make of it?
That’s such a tricky one. I don’t know really. It’s a beautiful country, it’s warm, it’s got lovely food, Tel Aviv’s an amazing city, it’s a really nice place to film. It’s a very metropolitan place, with a relatively European feel to it.

Politically, it’s not my favourite place in the world. I’d never been anywhere before that was in conflict, and I very much felt that it was in conflict.

Did you see daily reminders of that?
I did, yes. We were staying next to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv. The level of security is just astonishing if you’re not used to it. There are people walking around withy guns, and there are massive army helicopters everywhere, and fighter jets going past your hotel window. You don’t get that everyday back here. And the weird thing for me was you knew they were going somewhere. They weren’t just off on an exercise.

Were there any problems with people who didn’t want you there?
I think it was more difficult for us than it was for the actors in the 1940s scenes, because they were all in period costumes and period transport. But when we turned up in Arab areas and put an Israeli army roadblock in the middle of their city, people didn’t know we were actors.

It was particularly difficult for the guys dressed up as IDF soldiers. They had people coming up to them swearing.

So many people were so welcoming, and so pleased that we were making the drama,and filming in their country. But certain people I guess felt like ‘you’re coming over here to tell this story, you don’t know anything about it.’ That’s just human nature.

You’re known for Little Dorrit, Upstairs Downstairs, and you’ve got a film coming out with Nicolas Cage, Season of the Witch, set in medieval times. Was it nice to be making a drama where you were wearing contemporary clothes?
Oh yes! It really was. Costumes are costumes, to be honest, and by the end of anything, you hate them. I always hate them. I want to burn them all when I’m finished with them, I hate them all so much. You end up being really uncomfortable, really hot or really cold, the shoes don’t fit. As much as the costume department are wonderful, there’s only so much they can do.

But in this I got to wear Converse, which was a massive plus. But I’m so thrilled to have done a modern piece. So much stuff is period, and I couldn’t believe my luck to play such an amazing character, and for it to be set in the now. And it has to be good for me that casting people will see me not in a corset for once!

You’ve talked about how much you loved making it, but where does The Promise sit in terms of how proud you are of the piece?
I really hope people watch it, and I really hope they like it, and I hope people don’t get bogged down by the politics, I hope people just watch it for the wonderful story that Peter has crafted.

Little Dorrit will always be so important to me – it was my first big job, it was a character I got to play for six months. So that and this, for different reasons, have to come out top.

I felt so emotionally attached to Erin and so believed her story, and I loved working with Peter so much. I think every job will be different, but I think for me, creatively, and of the jobs I’ll be proud to show people, this is definitely up there at number one. It’s got so much integrity. All actors want to do something that’s good – something that’s pure and has no vanity, something they can be really proud of. Well, for me, this was that job. I’ll be so lucky to ever do a job that I love this much again.

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Huge thanks to Lorna.

GALLERY LINKS:
- Magazine Scans from 2011: Times Playlist (UK) – February 5-11, 2011
- Magazine Scans from 2011: Glamour (UK) – March 2011

I embarrass myself on a daily basis Particularly after I’ve had a glass of wine. All of a sudden I think that what I have to say is really important, so I end up telling people how to run their lives. I’m lucky that my friends know me well enough to say, “Claire, shut up.”

I feel very lucky I’ve worked in supermarkets, put tags in baseball caps and provided security during Wimbledon, but I never thought acting would be something I’d be any good at, or make a living from.

I must have seen ‘Titanic‘ more than 100 times Growing up, I was obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio. But the line I always remember is by Ioan Gruffudd, near the end: “Is anybody alive out there, can anybody hear me?”

My private life is no one else’s business Isn’t it rather odd telling total strangers about the personal things in your world? It’s all still new to me, but I can just imagine my friends saying, “Cheers Claire, but I didn’t really want to be in the newspaper.”

I hate having to pose for photos It’s just so embarrassing. Everyone is expecting you to know what to do because you’re an actor but I haven’t a clue. I wish I had something inside me that could say, “It’s all right, just do ‘Blue Steel’ from Zoolander and everything will be fine.” Instead I feel I’ve let the photographer down.

I’m a bit of a granny, really I love home, any home really – my mum’s, and of course my own. I love eating food there and chilling in bed with a cup of tea. I used to live with five friends when I first moved to London; it was brilliant, but intense – I couldn’t do it any more. Now the best part about going out for the day is that I get to come home at the end of it.

The paparazzi need to remember their humanity To stop and think “Oh, that person is having a bad day, maybe I won’t photograph her” or “Do I really need to take a shot of her taking out the bin?” If they treated celebrities as normal human beings, they’d never go as far as they do.

I’m more mature than i gave myself credit for I’d expected a slow burn before anything big happened in my career [Foy appeared as Lady Persephone in the BBC's recent Upstairs Downstairs and her first Hollywood role, in Season of the Witch, came earlier this month], but the past few years have been crazy, and I’ve surprised myself by not behaving like a massive knob; I’ve coped quite well, though I can still be a wally.

Nic Cage is a massive star, but he still loves what he does It was amazing to see how much energy he had on the set of Season of the Witch, and when we all watched Bad Lieutenant [in which Cage stars as a drug-crazed cop], you can see there’s some of him in there.

It’s easier dating a fellow actor He knows how it feels, and understands that going away all the time is just part of the job. But it’s not why I’m dating him; it’s because he’s a lovely person, though I won’t tell you who he is.

I’ve hurt people’s feelings in the past But I don’t regret anything; you can’t. It’s about accepting that part of you that did it, and moving on.

Visiting Israel was a culture shock Tel Aviv [where upcoming mini-series The Promise was filmed] may be in the Middle East, but it’s a thoroughly modern European city, which feels so strange. And the heat makes the landscape feel so different.

adam jacques

Claire Foy, 26, is a British actress. ‘The Promise‘ starts next Sunday on Channel 4

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GALLERY LINK:
- Season of the Witch (2010): Production Stills

The next installment of Paranormal Activity won’t hit theaters for a while, but a spooky period piece will keep you jolted in the meantime. It’s Season of the Witch, the film about medieval knights who transport a young – and possibly demonic – woman to her Witch Trial. And it’s scary / creepy / gross / all the things that make going to a big action movie with a pack of Gummi Worms fun.

We sat down with the movie’s two young British stars, who share screen time with Nicholas Cage and a lot of fire, blood, and dirt.

GALLERY LINK:
- Photoshoots: Nylon (2011)

Robbie, do you want to be Robert or Robbie? You’re listed as both on IMDB. Actually I’m Robert Michael Adam Sheehan. My confirmation name is Adam. I did pick it, but only out of the confines of the Bible. They went, “Look, it has to be from the Bible because they’re holy names.” Ezekiel doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as Adam, though. Or Barabus, that would be a good one, but he was evil in the Bible, wasn’t he? What if I was like, “I’d like to be Robert Satan Sheehan, please?” I’m from Ireland, obviously. Claire is from Merry Old England!

Claire: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales! I’m from England. The easy one.

Lots of readers are interested in Hollywood. How did you get cast in this big mega-movie?
Robbie: I did a terrible, terrible audition! It was one of those things where they tell you that you have an imaginary sword and you’ve got to fight evil with it, and then they stop you and say, “Okay, now pretend that the bad guys are here, here, and over there and do it again.” I was mortified. But somehow they called me back, and I met Dominic Sena, the director, but we didn’t really talk about the film. We talked about his life in Hollywood, like, how he directed John Travolta in Swordfish.

That must have been interesting. It was, but I don’t want to get into it. Those Scientologists are always so lawyered up! I don’t want to get on the wrong side of it. I love you, Scientology; you are the new light!”

What would your Scientology Confirmation name be? It would be like, “Glog.” Glog Tron Sheehan.

Claire: I went into the audition, and I swear it was the worst audition of my life. I had to pretend to be possessed by several objects in the room, in an American accent. I was so upset when I left the audition that I almost considered quitting.

That’s so melodramatic! But I swear, I said, “Never again!” But then they called me back! Dom came over to England, and I remember thinking, “Why do I have to go to an audition on a Saturday?!” That shows you where my head was at.

But you got the part. But I kept thinking they were kidding, that they would realize they wanted a big famous American actress. I mean, why would they want me? I think it’s amazing that they gave an unknown, at the beginning of her career, this part.

Robbie: And from then on, I started calling the movie “The Claire Witch Project.”

What was your first day on set like? Dominic said, “All actors lie when they get asked this, but can you ride a horse?” I said “Yes,” but of course I had no clue how to do it. So that was the first order of business. Now I’m really good!

Claire: That was one thing that was amazing about this project, is that even though I ride a horse for like four seconds of the movie, we all got trained in horseback riding in Hungary!

Robbie: I was good! I was cantering.

Claire: Yes Robbie, you were very good.

You spend most of the movie covered in dirt…
Robbie: Not only that, we had hair soldered onto our scalps!

Claire: You were the worst. When I saw Robbie, we had to get extensions put in, and I was like, “Oh my god, I’m gonna die.” But it didn’t hurt. I couldn’t feel a thing. Robbie’s just a wuss!

And you had much more makeup… I had four months of mud, and dirt, and white face, and hair extensions. It was like, four months of foulness. It was freezing some days, and you have really red, raw hands. I can’t believe we managed to get out there every day.

Robbie: They served us lots of really good Hungarian food, I think that’s how we survived.

When it’s so cold and you’re on a huge set, how do you keep from getting nervous or distracted when they call “Action”?
Claire: You just feel it. It’s our jobs. Sometimes you’re so hungry, or tired, or cold, or bored, or beaten up, that you go on auto pilot. But a lot of times that’s when you get the best performance. The people who end up doing this job successfully can get to a point where they’re okay with not knowing what’s going to happen when the camera comes on.
Robbie: Somtimes it’s months of work and rehearsals, and you’re really ready for the scene.
Claire: But weirdly, that doesn’t make it any better, necessarily. I’ve been on set where I don’t even know my lines, because they’ve just rewritten them, and they turn the camera on and yell “Action!” And I just go. And afterwards, I’m almost stunned, like I’ve just woken up from something. And I think, “Wow, that was really good!”

Robbie: We came onto set once, and it was a forest they’d completely covered in fog. And they go, “Okay, get on your horse! Now, on action, turn the horse, and now you see this guy being eaten by wolves! And now freak out and go fucking mad.” They do it once, they yell, “Cut, that was great,” and then you go home! And you’re like, “Wait, I worked five minutes today.” But that’s part of it, too.

What’s your favorite scene in the movie?
Claire: Oh no. I can’t even tell you if the movie is any good, because I’ve seen it so many times and I can’t separate the movie from the experience of making it.

And next?
Robbie: I made a film called Killing Bono, which hopefully comes out in America soon! Watch for it!

Claire: Upstairs / Downstairs is coming out in America really soon, and I’m so excited about that. We never know what you get over here – now even if I’m on Skins you won’t know, because you’ve got your own American Skins!
–FARAN KRENTCIL

Source: Nylon Magazine

Proving that long lengths are sticking around for yet another season, the rising young star rocked the formal floorlength gown, complete with a contrasting sheer white upper body and statement black waistband – not to mention a seductive thigh high split – with an air of effortless elegance and a subtle sexiness to boot.

And teaming her look with black accessories, Foy certainly knows how to turn pared-down minimalism into one massive style statement – and with a slick of vibrant red lippy, this British beauty proves she’s got what it takes in the style stakes.

So keep your eyes peeled for this up-and coming-fashionista – she’s definitely one to watch for 2011.

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This film is rooted in the time of the Crusades. What themes in the film do you think are relevant to today?

Nicolas Cage: I think there are enormous parallels to be made in politics and religion, but I don’t want to draw them. I’ll leave it up to you guys to sort that out.

Ron Perlman: Very, very good answer.

What made you want to do this movie?

Nicolas Cage: First of all I really wanted to be in the forest. I was doing a little movie called, “Bad Lieutenant” in New Orleans, and it was very hot, I was in these tiny, very humid little offices, and I was dreaming of doing a movie in the forest. Then this script came along. And so I said I’m going. So I was in the Austrian Alps, which was divine, and in Hungary. Then I found myself living a dream because I always wanted to play a knight. I had been doing it since I was little in my backyard, but it took this long to put it to celluloid. It was my dream. That was really the connection. I like to keep it mixed up. I want to try to find new looks, and new styles of movies to work in because it has been thirty years now. I like to go into different careers. I’m celebrating the careers of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee who I was fortunate to work with. I like those movies. It is sincere for me. Those are the movies I watch, so I thought I should do that.

In the first battle scene the characters of Behman and Falson have a bantering that seems more of today than of the Crusades. Was that intentional?

Nicolas Cage: I think there was some desire on the part of the producers and the director to try to give it somewhat of a contemporary feel. Also to connect with modern day audiences as well.

Ron Perlman: It was an attempt to call attention to the fact that the last thing these guys want to do when going into maybe their very last battle is to call attention to the heaviness of the situation. To offset it with a sort of gallows needling. It is probably more in tune with what warriors do than allowing themselves to get caught up in something more negative.

Claire Foy: I think sometimes with period pieces people think that characters have to speak in a certain way for it work, and I don’t think that is the case. I think it is much more relatable to people if characters have real relationships, which is what I think all the characters have in the film. They just behave normally as opposed to “playing” a knight.

For any of the actors, do you do any research for a role like this?

Nicolas Cage: Well, none of us were really there, right, but I try to open my imagination up to what it was like. The hypothesis of the sound is that it would sound more like early America, the settlers here. Quite a bit of thought went into that. It was interesting for me because I was working with all of these brilliant British actors, but they were being made to sound a little more Americanized, where I was supposed to sound a little more European. It was a strange sort of sound that we all had to come to that sounded at least accurate in the eyes of the producers and the director.

Having not played a knight before can you discuss how you trained for the sword fighting in the film?

Nicolas Cage: That was very exciting. I really did enjoy that. I thought the two ways into being a viable knight would be the sword and the horse, and if I could get those two down fairly well in training then the audience would go along with me for the ride. That is also one of the reasons I became a film actor. I couldn’t figure out realty what I wanted to be, but if I could start making movies I could learn all of these different skills. I could be a boxer; I could be a sword fighter. That is always interesting when you learn new skills when you make movies.

Robert Sheehan: I think what was great is we were brought over for two weeks before we started filming, and they said, “You’re going to learn sword choreography, you’re going to learn how to ride a horse, you’re going to learn how to drive a carriage.” It was just like a gift of all of all these skills that I wouldn’t have gotten to do, or gotten around to do because I’m lazy by nature.

Ron Perlman: We had some great second unit directors. Kevin McCurdy was our sword master for most of the film. The fight that happens between Felson and Kay when we first meet was rehearsed over the course of about a month. He set a very specific style of swordplay. I have “Conan” coming out, and there are all different ways of handling the broad sword depending on what period it is, and what the cultural environment is. We had the Armstrong brothers, Jim and Andy, to choreograph the big Crusade sequence. So we were really in great hands. I think it was important to all of us to keep checking with them to see if we were getting it right because the last thing you want to look like when you are playing a life time warrior, a professional solider, is a guy who came from the Bronx.

Claire, did you do any sort of research into witches at that time?

Claire Foy: Yeah, I had an obligation to, I think, because it was something that everyone knows about. So I did do quite a bit of research, but my character wasn’t, in my mind, necessarily that clear cut. It wasn’t just a story of a witch. But it did help with things like the ways they behaved, and why people suspected them, the symptoms of being a witch.

For the wolf attack scene, how much of that was real and how much was technology?

Nicolas Cage: That was a scary day because I had a wolf that was snarling, a real wolf, in my face, and there was no one holding on to him, and I was only like a foot away. A few things did flash in my mind, that I was going to lose my face, that I was going to get bit, so that was a scary day.

Stephen Campbell Moore: The guy who was in charge of the wolves was called Zoltan.

Robert Sheehan: There was a point that Hagamar, Stephen Graham’s character, is attacked, and there was a particular shot that the wolves were biting, so he was covered in bacon and padding. He must have lost a few chunks of flesh in that attack because they were vicious.

This is a spooky movie. Did anything supernatural happen on the set?

Stephen Campbell Moore: Just my hair.

Claire Foy: It was scary enough doing the night shoots in that forest where you couldn’t see a foot in front of your face because they put in so much fog around.

Ron Perlman: We did some stuff in Shreveport – [looking to the Publicist] – am I allowed to say that? Too late I fuckin’ said it – and I got thrown out of the original hotel I was staying at… for life, and I had to stay in a casino hotel, and there was some supernatural stuff happening in that room.

Nicolas Cage: What was the reason that you got thrown out of the room?

Ron Perlman: It was so unsexy. It isn’t like I’m Kurt Cobain, or Keith Richards, or Mick Jagger getting thrown out of a hotel so I won’t go into it. I’ll just leave it at I’m not ever allowed to go back to the Hilton in Shreveport.

Ron, with this film and your role in “Sons of Anarchy,” do you like playing these combative characters?

Ron Perlman: It allows me to do what I’d like to do at home, but can’t. I think one of the lures of this profession is this immersing yourself into parts of yourself that you’d like to exercise more freely in the real world, but are not able to. You get a chance to live as that guy for ten or twelve hours a day, and work out some of your fantasies. The notion of why I have, of late, seem to be in this pattern of playing combative characters is more coincidental than anything else. They are just things that come along that I find well rendered on the page, characters that I find that are dynamic and compelling. There really is no other criteria for me.

Nicolas, you’ve been known to collect strange things in the past. Did you take anything home from this film?

Nicolas Cage: No, no, I don’t collect anything anymore. That was a different life. I don’t collect.

Do your recent financial issues affect the work that you chose to do?

Nicolas Cage: I’m making the movies that I want to make; I’ve been blessed that way. Necessity is the mother of invention, but I can say that every movie that I’ve made I have found it to be inspiring, and I’ve found something interesting in doing it.

You sport the long hair in this film, and the upcoming “Drive Angry.” Are you happy to be back to the short hair?

Nicolas Cage: Historically film actors and stage actors have always experimented with new looks, and because I do make quite a lot of movies I like to keep changing it up, and transforming myself. Whether I wear a prosthetic nose, or I decide to wear a wig in one movie and not in the next that is fine with me. I like to play dress up – when I’m working – that’s part of the fun of it.

Nicolas, are you going back to directing any time soon?

Nicolas Cage: I hope to, I don’t know when, but that is one of my plans. I really do want to get back to that. I have an idea, but I might have someone else direct it in the time being. But if that doesn’t happen I’ll go ahead and direct it.

After learning to ride a horse for the film, have any of you done any riding since?

Robert Sheehan: I’ve done quite a bit for the last year and a half. I actually lied to the director, Dominic Sena. That’s a thing actors always lie about. He asked, “Can you ride horse back,” and I said, “Yeaaaah, of course I can.” I actually can now, which I’m quite proud of.

What was it like working with a screen legend like Christopher Lee?

Nicolas Cage: He was hilarious. One of the best stories he shared with me was that he was in Hollywood back in the ’70′s, and it was the Thrilla-in-Manilla or some fight, I’m paraphrasing, but Mohammad Ali said right after the fight, “I just want to thank my friend Christopher Lee.” And Christopher Lee told me that everyone at the party said, “How did you get Mohammad Ali to do that?” He looked at them and said, “Magic. BLACK magic.”

Interview By: Paul Myers (aka EL LUCHADOR)

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Claire paired the shoes with a gray and white minimalist evening dress. A simple yet chic black hard case clutch finishes off the lovely look.

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Claire Foy styled her brunette locks in a loose bun complete with soft curls. Her chic ‘do was the perfect way to accent her sheer top.

Claire finished off her look with rosy red lips and fluttering lashes.

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GALLERY LINK:
- Events: “Season Of The Witch” New York Premiere

Is Claire Foy’s character a witch, or isn’t she? Well, you’ll have to find out for yourself when the movie hits theaters on Friday January 7, 2011…

Perfectly complicating that puzzle, Foy seamlessly teeters between seemingly evil and sensitively vulnerable. It’s a rather delicate performance from the actress. While mired in the midst of all kinds of supernatural madness and heroic bravado from Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman, Foy remains creepy, cool, and captivating, conjuring a mystical presence all her own. She’s one reason why it’s so fun to fall into Season of the Witch.

Claire Foy sat down for an exclusive interview with ARTISTdirect.com editor and Dolor author Rick Florino about Season of the Witch, listening to Massive Attack to become evil, her playlist and so much more!

Does Season of the Witch have a fairy tale undercurrent?

Yeah, I suppose it does actually. The whole film is a bit like a fairy tale in a grim way because it’s set in medieval times and everybody is riding a horse. It’s all quite fantastical. I can’t remember the last time I saw anything that was set during that period. You’re probably going to remind me of something that I’ve forgotten though [Laughs]. It’s definitely a fun movie.

How did you get into the mindset of an alleged witch?

I think a lot of it was in the script, but I did a bit of research into the period and what happened in the witch trials as well as what the symptoms of suspected witches were. It’s all there within the film. This girl’s being persecuted and Behmen [Cage] is the only person who can truly see it because everyone’s so willing to look for someone to blame. Consequentially, they’ve decided that she’s it. I suppose it’s up to the audience to decide whether she is or she isn’t guilty of what she’s charged with, which I find most interesting. With all of those boys around, it was quite easy to play the victim.

Have you always been interested in witchcraft and medieval culture?

I think everybody is fascinated with the witch trials and those sorts of things to a degree. Obviously, I’ve seen The Crucible, and I did it in school. It’s a fascinating time. The important thing for me to remember was that it wasn’t just a fictional bit; it was reality. At that time, everyone was looking for someone to blame. They were so petrified of everything, and they believed that every action had a comeuppance. They thought something would always happen to you if you did something awful, and they were constantly looking for something to blame. I’ve always been interested in that, and I think most people are. Everyone’s fascinated with the fact that anyone could be so vicious, not just to women, but to other people, period. They’d accuse them of something and believe it was right to hang them or burn them at the stake. It’s a horrific thing. Growing up in England, those are things we learned about during our history lessons in primary school. I’ve always been interested in history anyway.

How much input did you have regarding your character’s look?

Well, it’s my face [Laughs]. They had ideas about how they wanted her to look so I had hair extensions. The costume designer was amazing. He came up with the costume, which wasn’t particularly flattering but did the job. Dominic Sena left it all up to me in terms of the acting and where I wanted to go with it. I was very keen to be muddied up and quite dirty. I was firm on that because I didn’t want her to look pristine and angelic all the time. I wanted her to look like she’d been in the back of a cage for weeks on end and not washed. That was it! They put me in the dress, put the hair on me, and it was all up to me from there.

Do you ever listen to music to get into character?

For me, it’s a big part of initially finding out what I’m going to do with a character. At drama school, it’s quite a big thing. They teach you to find a piece of music to suit the character. Every character you play has a different rhythm just like how everyone you meet has a distinct rhythm. I definitely had a different rhythm as opposed to my character in Season of the Witch [Laughs]. I suppose you’ve got to find it from somewhere. It’s interesting you ask that, because I do it!

Who were you listening to for Season of the Witch?

I don’t know if I should tell you, or if it should be a secret [Laughs]. I wasn’t listening to any really demonic stuff. I was listening to Massive Attack and people like that. That’s the weird thing though. About the songs I think that are appropriate for the character, most people would be like, “Really?” Lots of Massive Attack [Laughs].

Instead of Slayer and Metallica?

Oh no, it’s a bit too obvious and witchy, isn’t it?

Who’s usually on your playlist?

I love Bruce Springsteen! I always have. I do love Florence and the Machine and Ellie Goulding too. It’s mainly older music that I had when I was growing up like Van Morrison and Eric Clapton—stuff my mom used to listen to. I’m not massively into music. However, if I hear a song by say Deacon Blue, I’ll buy it on iTunes.

Do you have a favorite Bruce Springsteen song?

“Secret Garden!” I know it’s not his song, but I love the live version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” that he does. I’d have to say “Dancing in the Dark” too because it’s a family favorite.

What’s your favorite part of the movie?

I really like the bit with the wolves. I’m not really in it, but I like it a lot because I was quite scared for everybody while I was watching it [Laughs].

—Rick Florino
01.04.11